To the editors:
[Re: “Reading: Superman’s Make-over,” by Geoffrey Johnson, November 20.]
I was so disappointed that the first Superman movie did not follow the comics that I never went to the sequels. Here’s my list of the most glaring inconsistencies:
1) The Phantom Zone projector did not look like Hula-Hoops in the comics;
2) Jor-El was never drawn with the “S” on his chest (or anywhere else);
3) Kal-El came in a spaceship/rocket, not crystals.
4) Jor-El makes it big enough for both Kal-El and his mother, but Lara decides to “stand by her man.” (Oh, mother, is it worth it?)
5) In the spaceship there were no tapes, nor did he age as he came to earth, or pass Phantom Zone criminals.
6) In print, the whole world knew about Superboy. Was that too hard for the screenwriters to deal with? Apparently.
7) Ma and Pa Kent died in the comics, I seem to recall, from inhaling strange tropical gases, after which Clark leaves for the city.
8) After all those years on the farm, he never found the green crystals (also Hollywood-ized, none in print) till grown?
9) When he does leave the farm he goes to Metropolis, and makes the Fortress of Solitude later. He also had his costume as Superboy, not after the Fortress of Solitude.
10) 1970s styles? Come now.
11) Jimmy Olson is supposed to have red hair!
12) Lois’s sister with three kids? Lucy?! Sure, and I’m an Indian princess.
13) I can’t recall Lex Luthor ever with hair (before his experiment with Superboy that caused its loss, for which he blamed Superboy ever after), a female companion, or any sidekick, especially one so obviously stupid (Lex didn’t suffer fools, period).
14) In “real life” (comics) Lois might’ve been on the brink of death, but never fell in: Superman always saved her in the nick of time, or she used her own wits to save herself. Superman was undoubtedly aware of the problems that would be manifested by his turning back the world, a feat he could probably accomplish, though I doubted we’d ever see–until this movie that your writer thinks is true to the spirit of the comics.
Major Wiesinger
W. Cornelia